


The River Knows to Reach the Sea

by NeedsMoreAU



Series: Sorikai Week 2020, NeedsMoreAU [3]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Magic, Multi, SoRiKai Week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:34:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25731424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeedsMoreAU/pseuds/NeedsMoreAU
Summary: Sorikai week 2020Day 3 - Magic
Relationships: Kairi/Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: Sorikai Week 2020, NeedsMoreAU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1872967
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16
Collections: Sorikai Week





	The River Knows to Reach the Sea

Grocery shopping at the Destiny Islands weekend market wasn't for the faint of heart. Most tourists and particularly lightweight locals were advised to stay away, lest they get swallowed up by the flood of determined mothers, haggling vendors, and the tide of hourly sales.

“What flavor do we want?” Riku surveyed the wheeled, frozen glass case that was one of the most essential part of their weekly shopping, his hands intertwined with the two most beautiful people in the worlds.

“Raspberry sorbet,” Kairi suggested.

“Vanilla,” he argued.

“Neapolitan?” Sora tried to play peacemaker, which was sweet of him, especially because they all knew he could scarf down a bowl of chocolate in seconds.

“Then I only get a third of a tub of ice cream.” Kairi smiled teasingly, leaning onto Riku’s shoulder. Despite her blatantly wrong icecream opinions, he couldn't help but laugh as she pouted dramatically. Really, she was too cute.

“Cookies and Cream?” Sora had kneeled down to better examine the flavors, somehow not letting go of Riku’s hand in the process. He glanced up at the two of them.

“Alright, but I'm getting popsicles as well,” Kairi tossed her hair over her shoulder, like this was a great sacrifice. Expertly, she scooped up their prizes and began haggling with the ice cream seller, who had developed a healthy fear of the redhead girl who handled ice pops like they were a weapon. Kairi barely had to open her mouth before getting shoved a receipt. She turned back in triumph. “We should probably head back though. These will melt by the time we're done shopping.”

Sora took the bag from Kairi.

“No problem, I'll run them back to the house. I'll meet back up with you guys in… Fashion district?”

“Yeah, we’ll be headed there next, because somehow,” Riku stared at the two of them with his best ‘You're-not-as-sneaky-as-you-are’ glare. “My hoodies keep disappearing.”

“Hm, must be the heartless,” Kairi offered innocently.

Riku sighed.

“Right.” He turned to Sora. “You'll be okay meeting back up with us?”

“I'll try not to get trampled.”

“Our hero.” Kairi leaned forward, pulling Sora in for a quick kiss on the cheek. “Love you.”

“Love you too- ACk!”

Sora stumbled back as a white wing, pearlescent and stunning, burst from his back, almost knocking a passing shopper in the face. He gave a weird look, but didn't say anything. The locals were used to odd things happening around the three of them, and at this point, this wasn't even the weirdest one.

Kairi covered her mouth as she laughed, the bright wing on her own back flaring open with her giggles.

“That was on accident, I swear!”

“It's okay.” Sora smiled. “Might as well not waste it.” He started doing a few test flaps.

“Sora, you can't-” Kairi laughed, watching her boyfriend unsteadily rise into the air like a drunken kite.

“Don't worry,” he assured her. “I saw a guy at the coliseum do this once.” And, not quite balanced, but not as ungracefully as one would have thought, he set off over the crowds, flying towards home.

Riku snatched a stray feather out of the air. He turned it over, admiring the shimmer, and the memory playing in the reflection like a movie. This one was when Sora had first asked them out.

“I'm happy you two can use that out of combat.” He tossed the feather back into the wind, watching it twirl away. Immediately, Kairi stopped laughing, turning to eye her boyfriend with concern.

“Riku, are you..?”

“What? No!” He shoved his hands in his pockets. He took a second to collect his thoughts, trying to put words to the strange, unpleasant feeling that gripped his gut whenever he saw his partners use One Heart. “I just wish that our magic, that connection, didn't need a battle to be seen, you know?”

Kairi frowned.

“Walk with me.”

“I was already doing that,” he remarked. Thanks to years of training, she was able to ignore his sarcasm.

“Who taught you magic?”

“Maleficent.”

“And who taught Sora magic?”

“Donald.”

“And who taught me magic?”

“Merlin. Kairi, I don't see where this is going-”

“And why did those three teach us magic?”

“So we could figh-” He stopped, frozen, as it hit him. “Oh.”

“Yeah.” Kairi stood patiently by his side, watching as realization dawned on Riku’s face. “Sora does alright. Donald may barely know any healing magic, but he was always good about teaching Sora anything he asked about. I mean, he taught him how to make _roller coasters_ out of magic, for lights sake.”

“Hey, are you complaining about our backyard merry-go-round?” he asked. Kairi rolled her eyes, elbowing him in the side.

“Absolutely not, it's a valued member of this family.” She dropped the joking attitude. Taking his hands, she gazed up at Riku. “But what I'm saying is, neither of our teachers were particularly concerned with teaching us how to cast spells for everyday life.”

“You're right. We’re not at war anymore.” Finally, it really clicked, the message he should have gotten months ago finally sinking in. “We’re home.”

And then, he kissed her.

His hand fell to the small of her back, pulling her in closer, and she stood on her tiptoes, wrapping her arms around his neck as she kissed back just as deeply. Wrapping a second hand around her waist, he lifted her up. Kairi giggled into his lips as she felt her feet leave the ground.

When he reached out, her heart was there, almost like it had been waiting for him. He tied them together, drawing the feeling he'd had when Sora and him first made the combined keyblade, the love that he shared just as strongly with Sora as he did with Kairi.

Their connection was called Shoreline. Riku didn't know how he knew that, how the words popped into his head the same way that every other battle move over the years had come to him. But as Riku opened his eyes, he knew that this wasn't for the battlefield.

All around them, delicate ribbons of water twisted through the air, sparkling in the afternoon sun and bouncing rainbows around the whole of the market. At their feet, miniature waves lapped gently, just barely reaching their ankles, covering the small patch of grass that had sprouted up through the brick. Mesmerized, Riku watched as a flower bloomed in the tiny patch of earth, spreading five yellow, pointed petals. Kairi, stil in his arms, took in the scene with the same wonder. She waved a hand, and the streamers of seawater followed her movements. She twirled them in loops, twined them into braids, and spent them fluttering high in the air. Riku set her down, and set about exploring his own powers in their new magic. He found that wherever he stepped, grassy earth came up to meet him, the waves would follow him, growing weaker as he moved farther from Kairi.

“Huh. Not very useful, is it?” she hummed.

Riku smiled.

“It's perfect.”

“Hey! Guys!” Sora fluttered down to them.

He never made it to the ground. Laughing, Kairi and Riku grabbed his hands, spinning around, dancing on the mossy stepping stones that floated into the air, smiling, and Riku felt that warmth in his chest grow, the warmth in Kairi’s chest, the pounding heart of Sora as he smiled with them, doing his best to stay afloat on one wing. And then-

One Destiny felt like none of the magic any of them had ever felt before. It was less like they were three people, fighting side by side, and more like one mind in three bodies. Sora and Kairi flexed their wings, and Riku felt it on his own back, the huge stained glass feathers that shone blue and gold and sounded like the tinkling of bells when they flapped.

With a leap, they were flying, landing daintily on another stepping stone. The three of them, hands clasped, stood and looked down through the ocean that followed in their wake, to the island so, so far below them. They flapped their wings again, sending droplets of water into the air that would fall back to earth and be felt like rain. They smiled.

This kind of magic, the spells powered on nothing but hearts and love and commitment to one another. Those would always be the best.


End file.
